Ultimate Challenge
by Bon Bon
Summary: Edogawa and Haibara are caught and being transported into another group's hands. How will they escape? Who can help them? Chapter 5 is up!
1. The Wolf and Bear Man

            Conan rolled on the ground, cringing with pain. Gagged and tied with his hands behind his back, he almost had no chance of escape. He paused and took a look around. "Where was he? Who did this?" He had absolutely no idea what had happened. As far as he could recall, Ai and he were walking along a busy street, talking to each other. They wanted to grab something to eat, but then… what? Conan had absolutely no idea. 

            He looked over to see what else was in the room. Conan saw Ai, ragged and limp, handcuffed to a pipe running out of the wall. Suddenly, a memory flashed in front of Conan's eyes. It was imagined, of course. He remembered Ai relating the story of her capture to Conan. They had cuffed her to a pipe, similar to the one he was looking at right now. He recalled her saying that she had taken the drug that shrunk Shinichi so that she might put an end to herself, but instead, shrinking her. Her hands had slipped free from the cuffs and she was able to get away. 

            Conan felt like he had looked back in time. But his mind was unclear for that moment. Why had they chained Ai while just tying up Conan? Wouldn't handcuffing Conan be better since a boy, like him, could probably break the bonds anyways? He wondered whether anybody was going to help them or not. Dr. Agasa will probably think something's wrong after Ai doesn't come back for the night, or would he? Conan wasn't sure. He hoped his fear would turn out wrong.

            Under the locked door of the small room, Conan saw light shining from the other side. Hushed voices traveled to him. "We'll get a lot of money and recognition once we hand them over!" A man's deep voice said. "I don't think we should. I don't mean that we shouldn't hand them over, but you've heard of what they do to the captors…" Another man's voice was heard. "Oh, don't be afraid! We'll set a trap for them. If they refuse, the trap will spring into action! Then, they'll be like trapped tigers!" An evil laugh came from the first man. Conan didn't like it at all. Then he heard footsteps on the wooden floor traveling away from the door. The front door closed with a bang! They were gone. 

            Conan had rolled on his back and stared at the ceiling. Who were these people? Why did they 'want to hand us over?' These were the only thoughts occupying his mind. For once, he didn't think of escaping. He had an urge to find out where this was all going to lead to. He heard Ai wake up with a groan, the handcuffs jingled lightly. "What…" was all Ai could manage to say. Ai felt like a rock concert had been going on when she was asleep and that she had been right in front of the amplifiers. "Kudo…you here?" Ai managed a hoarse whisper. Conan couldn't reply in words, but a few "umph's" did the job. "Crawl over…I'll try to…get…the gag…" Ai said. Conan thought she had been running the marathon and she had just stopped. He inched over like an earthworm and got to the pipe. Pulling himself upwards, he got the pipe to cradle his head. Ai's hands came over and removed the cotton gag. As she threw them away, the cuffs had brushed by Conan's face and caused a cold sensation in his cheek that didn't leave for a while. "So…" Conan wanted to think of something to say that would get them out of there. "So…" Ai replied. 

            Conan had looked around for anything that might get them out. There was absolutely nothing in the room except the pipe and the two, trapped children. There was no way getting out with Ai. His bonds were cutting into his flesh, making it extremely uncomfortable. "The one who caught us is planning to turn us over…" Conan had nothing else to say to lighten their situation. "Are you thinking who I'm thinking?" Ai asks. Conan shrugs. "The Black Organization…" Ai replies. Conan looked at her sternly, only half believing this answer. "Might be…" Conan says. That was all the conversation the two had.

            After what seemed like ages, Conan finally manages to ask, "You got anything that might get us out?" "No, I never carry anything anyways…" Ai replies as a-matter-of-factly. "You know," Ai continues, "It's not like you to ask things like that. You always figure out the answer first and the one who always leads it. What's happening to you, Kudo? Losing your touch to solving hard cases?" Ai taunts. "No, it's just that always solving the case is exhilarating, but this one is exceptionally interesting. I want to see whose doing this and who they want to hand us over to. It might finally prove as a challenge that I might not figure out. I'm willing to risk it." Conan replies. "But what if you really can't solve it? What if they kill both of us before we're even through to the hands that we were intended for? What of…" Ai stopped. "…Ran?" 

            Conan had to think it over for a few minutes. He loved Ran deeply, and his features showed that to Ai before he even answered. "I know, that I WILL be able to solve it. If I can't, I wouldn't deserve her then." Ai thought that this was a weird conversation, but they couldn't leave themselves space to think what might happen to them now. A few moments lapsed when they heard the front door shut again. The captors were back. Hurriedly, Conan grabbed the gag with his teeth and passed it over for Ai to replace it on. Then, he silently fainted back into his position. Ai just made her body sag against the wall. The captors opened the door. Through half opened eyelids, Conan could see their faces, not their real faces, of course. They had masks on. One had a wolf and the other had a bear. The wolf was a lean man about 5'11" The bear was a rather chubby man about 5'7". Both had on brown trench coats. The man with the bear masks says, "Seems alright to me. They still look knocked out. I'll unlock the girl and bring her to the car." As the man sauntered towards Ai, the wolf-man stops him. "Can't be too sure with these two. Might be pretend faint. Better safe then sorry." He produces a white handkerchief with white powdery stuff and placed it in front of Conan's face, with the gag pulled off, for a full minute. 

            During that time, Conan had tried really hard not to breathe the stuff in. He nearly passed out trying to do so. But in the end, his lungs had threatened to burst, so he took a big whiff of the stuff and went limp. Ai had been watching with half closed eyes at the wolf-man. She didn't like him one bit. He was smarter than the fat man by a long way. "He's going to be the most troublesome," thought Ai as she saw the wolf-man walking closer by the second. A few moments later, she passed out from the stuff. Contented with the way things were going, the wolf-masked man says, "Bring them both out. Now they're truly out cold." He snickers as he walks out at a brisk pace with the plump man walking slowly with the burden. 


	2. From Hell...

He was chained by his wrists to the cold, brick wall. His body sagged against the wall, with his hands biting into the metal shackles that bound him steady. His hair was no longer sticking up like it usually was. His mouth was open, gasping for air. His clean white shirt was torn in many different places with splashes of blood here and there. Someone was beating Shinichi with a whip. Light from a small flame illuminated the room. It flickered because a gentle breeze had come in from the window bars. It seemed to her like hell….

Ran woke up with a start, a small bead of sweat forming on her brow. The white curtains swayed left and right by the wind from the open window. The dream…was terrible. Ran had been tossing in her mind the possibilities of where Shinichi was. He was gone for a bit too long solving cases. Now, she regretted thinking about it before she slept. Pushing off the covers, she slipped into her fluffy slippers and walked to the window. She peered out into the lighted streets. It was starting to snow already. She decided to walk downstairs to clear her mind. 

She changed from her sleeping wear into a sweater and running shoes. She tiptoed quietly from her room to the front door, took off the safety chain from the door, and exited. Ran walked down the stairs, hearing her footsteps echoing off the bricks. She emerged from the passageway. 

Ran had to blink a few times to allow her eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness. Her mind was empty for a second, but then she remembered that Conan hadn't called to say he'd be back for dinner. In fact, he didn't come home to sleep at all! "I wonder if he's at Dr. Agasa's. He should call to make me not worry about him. When he comes back I'll…" She trailed off because as she was staring at the empty road, she saw a black Mitsubishi Eclipse come by. The passenger window at the back was starting to fog up but she saw the people inside very clearly. Conan was lying on the back seat with his head facing out to her. He was gagged and tied up. To his opposite, she could see the hair of a girl sitting there, bound also by the hands. That was all she saw before it sped away. 

"What is Conan doing there?" She said aloud in horror. She ran in the direction of the car, trying to catch up to it, but it was going way too fast. Ran finally stopped about a block away from her house. She was baffled and terrified at the same time. "I'd better tell this to Dr. Agasa." Ran said as she was running to a nearby telephone to make the call. 


	3. Leckwis Hotel

The bear-masked man turns to his partner, "You think the girl saw us?" Without waiting for the other's reply, he smoothly draws back his brownish trench coat to reveal the metallic object beneath. Something silver was protruding from the man's belt. He removed it from its place and pushed a new cartridge in. He uses a swift motion by tugging on the top part of the gun to load the next bullet. The wolf-man still hadn't responded. The stout one grows impatient and yells out impulsively, "Drop me off here! I'll go back and finish her off!" The man next to him suddenly swerves onto a smaller street that was called "Riku Circle". He jams on the brakes while still holding the wheel to the left. This caused the car to do a 360° spin. The bear man didn't see that coming and the gun was knocked from his hands. "What do you think you're doing? What if she did see them, so what? What can a small girl like her do to us? Answer that!" The bear man's eyes showed a sense of rebellion, but it was quickly diminished when a cold, hard stare was returned.

"Let's just go to the garage and then we'll think about the what ifs and such. If the girl does call the cops or something, by the time they figure out where we are, we'll have the money!" The driver told the other. He had resumed driving, the wolf-masked one did. He did several turns that ended up to nowhere to confuse anyone that might be following. After that, he headed up a heavily lighted street towards the "Leckwis Hotel." At the entrance to the garage, the man rolled down his window to get a ticket from the machine. The metal bar slowly lifted up to admit the black car its entrance. 

The wolf-man moved very slowly among the cars, picking the right spot. When he finally found it, he did a quick movement with his hands that caused the car to park in the car park space numbered 115. Before his car came to a complete halt, his right hand moved to the ignition and removed the keys. The wolf-masked one quickly gets out of the car and closes the door with his right foot. His partner does the same. "When'd you think they'll come?" The bear-masked man questions the driver. The other just shrugs and walks off towards the elevator. "I'll be back soon. Got to go find something good to do in the mean time. You can leave if you want, just lock the door. They're out cold…" He said all that without turning once to talk to the other face to face. Lifting up his hand as if to say good-bye, he waved it once and the matter was settled. The bear-masked man remained motionless, leaning against the black door, thinking. "I'll get rid of you when this whole matter is over with…" The man said under his voice. In a few moments, he lost interest in "babysitting" the two captives and walked off in an opposite direction of the elevators.

The two prisoners were stilled trapped in the locked car, bound and gagged. Both were still unconscious, completely unaware that their life was in great jeopardy when the dealers came to take them away. 


	4. Phone Call

Ran hears the rasping voice of Dr. Agasa, "Hello." Ran was relieved and her heart was twisted like a rag at the sound of his voice. Unable to gather all her thoughts slowly, everything that she saw came out in a jammed sentence, "I saw Conan and Ai in a black car and they were bound and gagged and two men drove the car but I don't think they saw me and I didn't know what to do so I called to ask what I should do and is Ai home because if she is then it isn't them and I hope it isn't them." After saying all that in one single breath, all Dr. Agasa heard after that was the heavy breathing from the other side of the line. "Calm down, Ran. You're rushing your sentences and I only grabbed a few words in that! Something about Ai and Conan in a car? And the driver is a black man and someone else is there?" Dr. Agasa asks. "YES!" Ran yells out desperately. "Is Ai and Conan at your house because Conan didn't call or come home!" Dr. Agasa shakes his head, forgetting that Ran couldn't see. "No, they aren't here. Are you sure it's them?" He questions again. "Yes! I'm positive! I saw them clearly in the back passenger seats! Is there anyway you can track them?" Dr. Agasa bites the bottom lip, thinking. Then he replies, "Yes, wait a moment." He puts down the phone.

Pushing himself with his hands on the table, his office chair flew across the hardwood floor with him sitting on it. When he was close to his laptop, his hands came out and grabbed the edge of the table. Using his right hand and the mouse, he clicks a few times here and there and a new program was brought out. The background on his desktop quickly disappears, replaced by a map in another window. Swiftly, he returns back to the phone and speaks with Ran who was calling out his name, "Dr. Agasa! Faster! We can't waste a single moment!" Dr. Agasa had to take the phone about 3 inches away from his ear so that he wouldn't go deaf. "Alright! I knew that someday Shini…" He stops, remembering who he was talking to, shaking his head. "..Conan would get into this kind of trouble! If he still has his glasses on, which he should still have, I know where he is. There's a tracking device near the glass on his nose. I can follow him that way."   
  
"Alright, Dr. Agasa! Come to my house in 5 minutes! I'll be waiting. Bring that program of yours, too!" Without waiting for his reply, Ran hangs up and rushes back up the stairs into her home. Dr. Agasa was left still holding the phone, contemplating what she just said. When the information finally traveled to his brain, he hangs up, grabs the laptop and rushes to his Beatle and speeds off. 

Ran went upstairs, back to the office. Opening one of the drawers of Kogoro's desk, she takes out a rather large Swiss Army Knife and jams it into her pocket. Grabbing a new cell phone that her dad had bought, she puts it onto her belt. Ran grabs her leather jacket hanging from the pegs on the door before she dashes through the entrance. 


	5. Both Sides of the Story

During the ride upwards in the elevator, the Wolf-masked one takes off his mask, not wanting to draw any attention to himself. As he reached the third floor, he got off and told the waiter to get a seat for three in the café. Other people who were eating at the coffee shop stared at the man. They had a dash of fear and curiosity at the man. They saw a bearded male that had a skinny face. His cheek bones showed under the thin pale skin. After the man sat down at the table, all the eyes left him, in fear that the man might come and pick a fight with them.

"Step on it, Dr. Agasa!" Ran shouted from the front passenger seat. Dr. Agasa tried to shake her hand off of his lab coat. "If only…" he says fighting for it, "You'd let…go…" as he tugs on the sleeve. Dr. Agasa returns his focus onto the road when he suddenly had saw a car's head lights shining onto his car. They were on a direct path of impact! When they hit, the car jerks right and hits the light post in front. The driver falls unconscious. Ran was so close to the hotel!

Meanwhile, the partner of the wolf-man was walking around the hotel where the souvenirs were sold. The looked around aimlessly, trying to waste the time on his hands. The salesman came over to get him interested into a magnet with a pad of paper on it. The man gave the salesman a cold, hard stare, and he was left alone.

Ran was running. She was running toward the Leckwis Hotel. A few moments earlier, she had been in a car accident. It wasn't a major one for her. She didn't get hurt. But the other driver did. He had fallen unconscious the moment the cars came into contact. Dr. Agasa had came out of the crash unharmed. Ran had wanted to send him to the ambulance first, but Dr. Agasa refused the offer. "Conan has stopped in Leckwis Hotel for quite a while already. Go. They're probably in there. I'll give a steak for a pebble that he's in the garage." Dr. Agasa hurries Ran along, telling her to get the two children back. Ran said a hurried good-bye and ran off towards the hotel. 

After waiting for 15 minutes, the wolf-man was getting impatient. He still sat at the coffee shop, unmoving. He had ordered nothing, but the waiter had brought a glass of water and quickly left. He taped his foot against the leg of the table lazily. He was getting bored of the task. They still weren't at the café. "Where are they?" he thought.

As she rushed into the front door of the hotel, the bellhop opens the door for her, asking if she needed any help. Quickly, Ran grabs the man's uniform and tugs at the collar. "Show me to the elevator that leads to the garage!" Ran yells. The bellhop holds up his hands disarmingly. "Alright…just…let…let ..me go!" When she finally released her grip, the bellhop shouts, "Over there. Press P1. We only have one level of parking." After his task was done, he backs away from the girl. Ran pushes through the crowd forming at the elevator door, trying to get on the lift. She finally succeeds after a few people had hurled curses at her. She pushes the P1 button many times, wishing the door would close faster. 

The wolf-man looks up, seeing the two whom he had longed to see. "You're finally here!" he says to the two. "Where are they? You promised to hand them over to us," says the taller one. "They're in the garage, like always…" The wolf-man gets up and leads the others to the elevator. He holds the door open for the men and walks in.

Ran rushes among the rows of cars, trying to find a Black Mitsubishi Eclipse. When she finally did, she peered into the back seats, hoping to see the two she wanted. A sudden rush of relief filled her when she spotted the two, but they were a long way away from danger. Looking around for any signs of the men, she turns her attention back at the door. Ran knocks softly on the window whispering, "Conan! Conan!" It seemed forever before Conan rolled over. He sits up, shaking his head. When he notices Ran, he runs over and hits the window with his head. A muffled noise came from his mouth. Ran says while hand signing, "Can…you…unlock…the….door?" Conan nods a hesitant yes. He uses an effort, and his back, to open the lock. Luckily, it was those buttons that you could just lift up to unlock. Conan finally manages to release it, and collapses on Ai in exhaustion. 

The three men walk out of the elevator, towards the car. Chatting about things that best friends wouldn't say, they exchange deals on how the wolf and bear men should be rewarded. "A million dollars U.S. …each…" says the bearded man. The chubby and skinny men look at each other. "Deal…" says the skinny one, Gin. "But how'd I know you won't kill us first and take the kids?" Gin replies, "On my word as an assassin…" "Your word, you keep…" the kidnapper says. 


	6. Gripped...

Ran hears the chattering of the three men walking towards the car at a quick pace. She quickly hauls Conan out and cuts his bonds with the penknife in her pocket. Ai was still unconscious, so she just cut the ropes and carried her out. The rope ends, she threw under the car. There was no other place to put it. Quickly, the three hides behind some of the other cars next to the black sedan. 

As the wolf-man shows the two the black car, indicating that the two were sleeping peacefully inside, Gin congratulates him at gun point. The wolf man was shocked at the sudden change in Gin. "You gave me your word…" he gasps. As Gin pulled the trigger, he reveals the truth to him, "An assassin never keeps their word…" 

At the sound of the gun, Conan and Ran could feel the hair on their necks rising. They slowly inched away from the two dangerous men. Conan knew who they were, knowing what they want with him. Ran, on the other hand, only thought they were kidnappers who wanted Conan and Ai because they were bad criminals. 

At the sound of the gun, it also brought someone else to attention. The partner of the victim had heard the shot. He knew for whom it was intended. He rushes over quietly to the pillar a bit far away from the car. The other two hasn't noticed him yet. He slowly pulls out the gun and aims for the fat man. As he was going to pull the trigger, the slimmer one turns abruptly and kills him with one shot. A sudden twitch before he died, he shot the gun and it got its target. The fat man falls, but he was just hit in the leg. The bear man wasn't so lucky.

Conan and Ran were scared to the pit of their stomachs. Suddenly, Ran's cell phone rings. "Oh no!" Ran thought. "I forgot to turn it off! They'll find us!" The ringing grew louder to the two men's ears. They nodded to each other when they rounded the corner of the car to find the person hiding with the telephone. But to their surprise, they only saw a cell phone on the floor. Ran had dropped it when she crawled away. Vodka snorted and stomped on the cell phone, crushing it to pieces. Gin went and took a look inside the car. "They're gone." Vodka questions the smarter one, "What shall we do?" Gin stared hard into the other man's eyes, "Leave…We'll catch them some other day…"

Ran and Conan let out a sigh of relief when they finally left. They smiled at each other. "We should get Ai to the hospital and call the police of the two men…" said Conan. "Yes, we shall…" 


End file.
